This season, Formula 1 fans are witnessing a fierce battle among the teams in the lower midfield. Racing Bulls, Aston Martin, Sauber, and Haas are separated by just 20 points, and in recent weekends all four have consistently managed to bring home solid results.
In Brazil, for instance, the top ten featured Oliver Bearman in P6 with Haas, followed by Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls, Nico Hulkenberg in P9 for Sauber, and Pierre Gasly closing the points in P10 for Alpine. The overall level of performance across the grid this year has been remarkable. The competition has also been fueled by some bold strategic choices that, while risky, often prove to be the right call.
At Interlagos, it quickly became clear that the best strategy would be a two-stop race. Max Verstappen finished third after making three stops, but both Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg took a gamble by completing just one, avoiding the use of the Hard C2 tyre and instead pushing their Soft C4s to the limit (here are the strategy data). The approach allowed both drivers to score points, but it left some within the teams not completely satisfied.
Weathley not fully satisfied with Hulkenberg’s strategy: “I’d like to review the data”
Starting from P10, Nico Hulkenberg had to take more risks than Liam Lawson to finish inside the top ten. After the race, Sauber team principal Jonathan Weathley explained how the team reached the decision to run a one-stop strategy: “We practically followed our Plan A. I’d like to review the data because I think the pit call came a bit too early, forcing him into a rather long stint on the Softs — he actually completed the most laps on that compound, 35 in total — which made things difficult for us at the end. We thought he would be quicker in getting past Lawson.”
Weathley added: “Overall, Nico managed a balanced race, took good care of the tyres, especially the Softs, and handled the situation very well. We believed we could finish in P7, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.” In the end, the team left Brazil somewhat disappointed, having lost out due to an overly long stint on the C4 compound.
For his part, Nico Hulkenberg knows he gave everything to achieve the best result possible, but it still wasn’t enough. The German admitted there was frustration at losing valuable points to Sauber’s closest rivals: “Unfortunately, the first lap wasn’t ideal — I lost a couple of positions, and it was obviously difficult to make them back. I got stuck behind Alex for quite some time in the first stint.”
He continued: “The good thing is that we successfully completed the race with just one stop, managing a long run on the Soft tyres. I have to say, I also enjoyed battling with the Racing Bulls and the other guys out there, but looking at the Constructors’ Championship, we’ve lost ground to some of our competitors,” Nico Hulkenberg concluded.
Leave a Reply